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| WDM3D 11211 accompanied by 11126 crosses the Sabarmati Bridge working from from Somnath to Ahmedabad on 4th November 2022. |
Introduction
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| Street scene in Kotkapura. |
India had long been somewhere I had considered as one of the great railway countries of the world. In reality I knew so little about it and it was so far away, so foreign and so vast that I had not seriously looked at exploring it until a couple of years ago. By that point the trip reports I was reading already suggested that it was probably too late.
Meter gauge railways had almost been wiped out, and even the number of diesels being used daily on broad gauge passenger workings was decreasing seemingly by the week- and where these did remain displaced GM locomotives from newly electrified routes were slowly eating into the work of the much-loved ALCO’s and views were being eroded by the relentless erection of overhead catenary and new signalling.
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| 37429 but not as you knew it! This WAP-7 has been decorated with its train at Sabarmatti Junction BG. |
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| WDP4D 40476 from Ludhiana depot waits at Bathinda. |
During 2020 when the world stood still with Covid-19 some serious thought was put into a trip and some leave allocated for the autumn since things were hopefully going to be better then(!)… of course we all now know that was not the case, and similarly 2021 was also a no-go for the big Indian trip and I had all but written off the idea. However early in 2022 reports began to surface again from those who had journeyed back to India’s railways. Passenger services were getting back to normal, and if we visited the right places we should still just about be able to see what we wanted. Of course India was new to us all so everything would be interesting and ‘required’.
Planning wasn’t always easy with some information
difficult to find, along with the risk that hotels wouldn’t take foreigners and
trains which only run on certain days of the week. I must acknowledge websites
such as indiarailinfo.com which were invaluable, as well as to Dan Wilson whose
information and e-mails to our group were a very helpful pointer in the right
direction.
After much deliberation and many ideas we reached ‘Plan E’
which would visit two of the best remaining meter gauge routes, several
locations using ALCO’s and get a really good taste of India’s rail system,
hopefully without being too outrageous!
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| The shunter rides on the front of Ludhiana WDM3A 16302 at a smoggy Bathinda. |
Tuesday 1st November 2022
Technically the trip started the day before, but it was
around 01:00 when we touched down in Delhi having flown from Heathrow with
Virgin Atlantic. I had gained a couple of hours sleep and some amusement at
many of the passengers on board who (presumably having not flown before?)
seemed to struggle with the aircraft toilets. One gentleman didn’t seem to work
out that locking the door would turn the light on, while other toilets
displayed the tell-tale Asian sign of footprints on the seat…
Having withdrawn some Rupees from the ATM at the
international terminal we got our first taste of Indian transport as we
transferred to the domestic terminal 1 for our time saving hop to Gujerat with
SpiceJet. A couple of beers were enjoyed before our early morning flight, since
we knew we would not get any in Gujerat which is one of India’s dry states.
SpiceJet surprised us by producing one of their Dash 8 turboprops for the short
flight, which was probably more comfortable than what Virgin had offered!
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| Our first ALCO- WDM3A 14097 has just departed Rajkot with a train for Somnath. |
After watching the sunrise through the plane window, and
not getting an awful lot more sleep we landed in Rajkot, having spotted our
first ALCO from the plane, and were out of the airport much more quickly than I
had anticipated. This was handy as I had already identified a Somnath bound
ALCO which should pass the line outside the airport. We made our way to the
lineside, which contrary to my research had very recently been electrified, and
found a spot for the train. The crossing keeper confirmed that it was on its
way and we bagged our first ALCO of the trip in WDM3A 14097 .
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| WDG-4G 49370 with a long oil train at Rajkot Junction. |
Since it hadn’t got too hot yet we elected to see a bit
of India and walk to Rajkot Junction station- this certainly gave us our first
taste of the country; cows, litter, dogs, staring locals, narrow streets and
all manner of road vehicles. We had anticipated finding some more familiar
looking shops on the way to the station to get some supplies, but stalls and
shacks were all that were found. The first aim at the station was to deposit
our bags in the cloakroom. We knew Indian trains were long, but walking up and
down the platform at Rajkot in the increasing heat highlighted just how long
the station was! We found the cloakroom at the very end of the building but
immediately things became more complicated. To leave our bags we had to have a
ticket. We didn’t have this yet, so a contingent of the group headed to the
non-reserved ticket window, which we had already identified, to buy them. Only
problem was that non-reserved tickets can only be brought 2 hours before
departure… and our train was further away than this. Next was to try to buy a
reserved ticket. The first window we tried turned out not to be a ticket window
at all, and when we eventually found the reservation office it quickly became
apparent that we had no idea how to buy a ticket, and the staff had no
intention of imparting the secret on us! Just to add to the woes while walking
back to the bags I was sure I heard staff muttering something about no photos…
Defeated with the cloakroom we found a spot lineside near
the station where we could leave our bags and watch proceedings. While we had
seen a few ALCO’s not doing an awful lot, we were immediately impressed with
the large modern double cabbed WDG-4G General Electric locomotives which were
employed on tank trains, with brake vans at each end of the rake.
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| WDP-4D 40183 pulls away from its stop at Jungadh Junction. The narrow gauge platform complete with a YDM4 can be seen to the right. |
Rajkot Junction is recently electrified but all the
trains we saw were still in the hands of diesels, a mix of WDM-3 ALCO’s and
GM’s on passenger. To make things difficult many of the trains in this area
only run certain days a week, and the number to actually be seen was relatively
few. Hungry and hot we retired to the station restaurant where with the help a
local police officer for translation we ordered some Dal which took a little
getting used to!
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| WDM3A 16812 arrives into Jungadh Junction heading towards Rajkot. The Semaphore on the far left is for the meter gauge route towards Visavadar Junction. |
Our plan had been to move onward ALCO powered on 19119,
the 15:48 departure from Ahmedebad to Vereval, however with some trains
already being announced with delays of hours rather than minutes, and feeling
like we would quite like a change of scene, we purchased unreserved tickets for
the earlier GM powered train that would get us to Junagadh Jn in good time
rather than risk the +30 connection. The Railway Police Force advised us that
photography was not permitted as WDP-4D rolled in and we tried to secure some
space on this busy train.
With one seat between the three of us the train made very
slow progress, halting for around 45 minutes for a train to pass us at the next
station, only around 10 minutes around the corner. Frustrated at the delay I
checked the running of the train and was surprised to find this fester was
booked!
It is fair to say that we weren’t disappointed by the
time we arrived at Junagadh Jn, fairly tired by this point having been up since
early the previous morning. We had however securely made our connection and our
first meter gauge ALCO was waiting for the next train in the shape of a very
shabby YDM-4 6692. There was time to get some supplies, secure our seats and
watch the ALCO we had planned to travel on, which did just about connect onto
the branch train.
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| WDM3D 11245 at Jungadh Jn with a service to Vereval. |
We had made our first Indian friends while waiting on the
train at Junagadh Jn and were all a little relieved when it turned out they
were not actually travelling on the train. While friendly enough I think we
were all a little tired to be questioned on our activities. The group also
introduced us first hand to the scale of the litter problem in India – I went
to put our ice cream wrappers in the bin on the platform which seemed a totally
foreign concept. I was told several times that I shouldn’t bother and I should
just throw them out of the window…
The journey to Amreli was enjoyable, if rather lengthy,
with darkness descending around an hour into the trip. The train reversed at
Visavadar Jn where a couple of us jumped off to get some night shots with our
tripods (feeling we may as well get the use out of them having brought them). I
quickly attracted the attention of some people on the platform, and having
chosen to ignore them continued to get my shots. Soon I discovered they had
followed me and were not against photography as had been my initial fear, but
wanted to invite me to have tea with them! Despite my protests to the contrary
they assured me that I did have time before the train left, and also beckoned
my friends to join. They stayed on the train, but I did have time for my first
brief cup of Chai and it was insisted that as well as not paying for it, I must
take some back to my friends, which I did in a thin latex bag that looked
rather suspect!
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| YDM4 6692 prepares to run around its train from Jungadh Jn to Amreli at Visavadar Junction. |
Aside from making the acquaintance of several more Indians, all of whom were very pleasant the remainder of the journey in the dark to Amreli was fairly uneventful. On arrival some more night shots were taken of the two other sets which stable here overnight before the station staff decided that they had had enough of us. Amreli is the end of the line in 2022, the route onwards towards Dhasa has already been closed for gauge conversion and one day it is likely that Amreli again will be a through station, this time on broad gauge. Our photo session concluded, we were the last passengers to leave the station and all of the auto-rickshaws have gone leaving us a very tired 20 minute walk to our hotel. It’s was ok- it accepted foreigners and had a bed. After the longest day that was all we needed- dinner would have to wait for another day!
Moves:
-WDP4D 40183 11466 Rajkot - Junagadh Jn
-YDM4 6692 09540 Junagadh Jn - Visavadar Jn - Amreli
Wednesday 2nd November 2022
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| Trains meet at Visavadar Junction with YDM4's 6565 and 6338, the former is working from Jungadh to Vereval and carries a non-standard blue livery for this route. The second locomotive is running around its train from Amreli to Jungadh. |
Everyone felt better for some sleep, but the alarm call to get back to Amreli station for the first departure at 06:25 was still far too soon! From the position of the trains last night we knew that we would get a different loco on this set, and indeed YDM4 6338 was our power, looking much smarter than last nights loco had. Given the early departure time we genuinely thought that this might be our opportunity to get a nice peaceful ride on a quiet train. Wrong! The platform was heaving so I queued (most others pushed) to get tickets while the others attempted to secure some seats, eventually I would spend the journey at the front doorway- and I wasn’t too upset about that!
While there isn’t an awful lot of scenery to get excited
about on this route, the line isn’t totally flat either and the ALCO provided
plenty of entertainment as the sun came up (and I was glad it did, as for the
maybe the only time on this trip I was almost cold!). I was also in the prime
spot to watch the semaphore signals and station token exchanges- all reminders
of a bygone era for most of India’s railways.
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| The Gujerat meter gauge lines still use traditional signalling including token exchanges at various stations. |
After just over 2 hours we were back at our run-round haunt from last night, Visavadar Jn. Here our loco would run round to head to Junagadh Jn while a second train which had originated at Junagadh Jn was ready to head south behind the attractive blue liveried YDM4 6565, the only example we would see in the blue livery, bound for Delvada. Since we were heading to Vereval and there was not yet a connection we elected to take a pause here, which also allowed a pleasing shot to be captured of 6565. Very soon our friends from the previous night re-appeared, who it became apparent ran one of the station food stalls, and what great hospitality they turned out to provide. Alongside them an English language teacher had appeared who had spotted the westerners from his home and came to say hello! Much Chai was drunk and I was then escorted by the stall owner to see his Hindu Temple. By the time I came back, after a short diversion to buy fruit at the local market at no expense to myself (other than a few more selfies with the locals of course) I arrived to find my travelling companions had gone back to meet the English teacher’s family!
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| YDM4 6565 departs from Visavadar Jn to Vereval. |
We said our goodbyes and in vain tried to leave some
Rupees for what we had consumed before all thankfully making it onto the next
train, with YDM4 6394 which we took through the Sasan Gir national park to
Talala. Realising there was little further entertainment if we did reach
Vereval we dropped back here to take a train back to Sasan Gir where Rob had
spotted some monkeys! This area is the national park, and home to the only
remaining wild Asian Lion’s. We caused quite some confusion amongst the locals
by *not* being here to see them!
At Sasan Gir the monkeys were gone, but we did have a sociable conversation with the stationmaster who informed us that gauge conversion has now been approved for this route and the meter gauge was likely to close here in the next three months. Time will tell if this proves to be true, but it certainly hit home that this trip really couldn’t have waited any longer.
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| Vereval Junction with broad gauge operations the left and the remaining meter gauge system on the left. |
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| YDM4 6560 departs from Sasan Gir in typical Alco style. |
Now it really was time to head to our accommodation for
the night, with our shabby YDM4 6692 from the previous night taking us through
to Vereval where it then engaged in a bit of shunting. There wasn’t an awful
lot of much interest happening on the broad gauge, and no trains about to head
to the end of the line at Somnath, so the hot and dreary travellers finally
found themselves in an auto-rickshaw for the last few miles to the hotel. We
had no intention of leaving it again, so it was time to freshen up with a much
needed shower, and then head down to a feast of paneer and vegetable curry for
dinner all watched over by the very over-attentive waiter who insisted on
spooning all of the dishes onto our plates. It had been a good day, and now
would be a comfortable night before the next two were spent on the move again.
Moves:
-YDM4 6338 09539
Amreli - Visavadar Jn
-YDM4 6394 09292
Visavadar Jn - Talala Jn
-YDM4 6560 09505
Talala Jn - Sasan Gir
-YDM4 6692 09508
Sasan Gir - Veraval Jn
Thursday 3rd November
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| YDM4 6666 arrives beneath the semaphores at Talala Junction with its service from Jungadh Jn. |
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| YDM4 6692 on the maintenance point at Vereval. |
Having had such a good day on the meter gauge the day
before we were initially unsure what to do today. Being at Vereval limits the
options to ride the meter gauge system, but with ALCO hauled trains relatively
sparse on the broad gauge we elected to have another day with the YDM4’s. There
was a little time before the first departure at 09:45 so the two of us who had
not spent the night re-visiting last nights meal enjoyed breakfast before
leaving the bags at the hotel (phew!) and all of us heading out by auto-rickshaw
for the station, by way of a bit of coastal sightseeing in this port town.
While the boats were a great sight the smell was less so, and the beach at
Somnath is not somewhere I can see attracting the tourists any time soon
unfortunately!
Having settled on the meter gauge, today was a simple out
and back journey to Delvada, the final part of the system we had not covered,
which would require us to change trains at Talala. YDM4 6654 was in charge for
the first part of the journey, and en-route we became a part of a large family
outing, the group returning from a holiday in Somnath (presumably for the
temples and not for the beach!). They kindly offered round some samples of the
food they had brought on the train, and I must say it was delicious. Our train
was the first of the three morning arrivals to converge on Talala Jn. This
allowed us to watch the two southbound trains from Junagadh and Delvada to be
viewed arriving- the spectacle of three meter gauge trains in one location must
now be unique on Indian Railways. I was pleased to see ‘The Devil’s’ YDM4 6666
arrive with our train to Delvada, which was surprisingly lightly loaded! After
receiving a friendly word of warning from a member of the Railway Protection
Force (India’s much more numerous take on the BTP) not to stand on location
cabinets to take photos, we then had a good chat on the journey, and I’m sure
he enjoyed looking at some photos of railways back in the UK. He proudly
discussed that photography was his hobby also and his job had allowed him many
opportunities to travel around India.
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| YDM4 6565 arrives at Talala Junction from the Delvada branch. |
The journey to Delvada had been probably the most
pleasant we had so far had in India. Plenty of space, not too hot on the train,
not too much attention (I think the whole of Gujerat probably knew there were
westerners on the trains by this point)- but we were about to get a shock.
The train back should have been just over an hour later,
and I was expecting this to be a different loco. It was. But what I was not
anticipating was that the train would already be full to the rafters more than
an hour before departure! The departure time was checked, and while it had been
revised forward 15 minutes it was still not imminent. This was going to be an
uncomfortable ride, and given the train was wedged already we elected not to
join until the last moment. This gave a change to get some supplies and for me
to call my girlfriend who was on her way to work 5 ½ hours time difference
apart- this proved to be a very challenging conversation, as no sooner had the
westerner started talking than I attracted attention. Within about a minute I
had a crowd of around 20 youngsters listening, photographing and filming my
phone call! When they all started to talk to me during it, asking questions and
for selfies (of course) the call simply had to be abandoned! The constant
attention is just one way in which India really is hard work!
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| The driver of the Delvada trains receives instructions ahead of a green flat as it pauses at Prachi Road Junction where the now closed branch to Kodinar diverges. |
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| Cows and YDM4's share hte line at Talala Junction. |
Talking of hard work, we still had to get on the train
behind YDM4 6394 back to Talala. I managed to get into the front vestibule, but
my friends came up against resistance from the other passengers who maintained
there wasn’t space. Eventually they were taken pity on by the train crew and
allowed to travel in the guards compartment. When the train got even busier at
the next station I dropped back to join them. The guards compartment already
had an elderly couple and about 5 members of the RPF (including our friend from
earlier) as well as the guard. This said, the comfort far exceeded what we
would have had in the coaches as the train got ever busier all the way to
Talala. Passengers were being left behind with the RPF having to ‘encourage’
those who could not physically fit into the train to let go of it (no roof
riding these days in India!).
Fortunately it was a friendly bunch in the guards van, the RPF even
sharing some food with the two of us who were still eating. As we left the
train at Talala we were given a friendly warning that we shouldn’t attempt that
journey again- as it happens, I don’t think any of us ever will!
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| YDM4 6666 at journeys end having arrived at Delvada. |
We were very pleased to see that our connecting train to
Vereval was much quieter, and I certainly felt sorry for those sticking on the
train we had left all the way to Junagadh Jn where it was bound.
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| YDM4 6638 beneath the semaphores at Talala Junction. |
The last bit of travel behind a Sabarmati (Gujerat) based
YDM4 was most enjoyable, especially for Rob who ended up in the cab (quite a
turn around from being told not to take a picture!). When we arrived at Vereval
all of us were able to have a look in the cab before the crew directed us to
the depot mess room and suggested we might also find that interesting. We did-
and the staff there gave us the warmest welcome as we compared notes between
British and Indian railways while their ‘tea maker’ prepared some lovely fresh
Chai.
An excellent way to round off the Gujerat meter gauge
system, which I think had exceeded all of our expectations.
Despite our extended stay at the depot we were still back
at the hotel to pick up our bags and have some food before the restaurant had
opened. We had no desire to explore Somnath any further, and would also accept
that the broad gauge line between here and Vereval would remain unexplored.
After dinner it was an auto-rickshaw for the 20 minute journey to Vereval
station (there being no mainline connection into the train from Somnath) for
our overnight journey to Ahmedebad. Finally we would sample one of the big
ALCO’s, with WDM3 16831 in charge, not that we would really hear it from our
AC3 beds.
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| WDM3A 16831 prepares to depart from Vereval Jn with the overnight train to Ahmedabad Jn. |
This was the lowest class of sleeper we would use in India, AC2 being fully booked on this train, but our apprehension was misplaced. The AC was a good temperature, and the whole coach environment very civilised. For a sleeper, I didn’t even sleep too badly!
Moves:
-YDM4 6654 09291
Veraval Jn - Talala Jn
-YDM4 6666 09532
Talala Jn - Delvada Jn
-YDM4 6394 09531
Delvada Jn - Talala Jn
-YDM4 6338 09508
Talala Jn - Veraval Jn
-WDM3A 16831
22958 Veraval Jn - Ahmedabad Jn
Friday 4th November
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I awoke to my alarm and some activity in the coach. On
checking Google Maps for our location it was clear that we were on the
outskirts of Ahmedabad and looking to arrive around 30 minutes early. Since the
train terminated here it wouldn’t have been the end of the world, but certainly
worth noting for future sleepers. The first task this morning was to freshen up
and get rid of our big bags to the cloakroom. It was already clear it was going
to be a hot day and we really did not want to be carrying them around. We had a
reservation for our overnight train so hopefully we wouldn’t have the same
issues as in Rajkot! Finding the cloakroom took a little while and I had cause
for also finding the facilities in the 1st class waiting room having
failed miserably to use the pay toilets (the guy on the door first wouldn’t accept
the advertised 20 rupees, and after my change from a larger bill had been literally
slammed down in front of me I found that all the toilets were of the squat
variety and each had Indian, pushing-in-style queues which I reckoned would
take at least 30 minutes!). The 1st class waiting room was at least less
busy and had a western toilet, but I can’t say it was really a ’1st
class’ facility! Dropping the bags proved no problem and here no reservation
was required!
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| Our overnight train with WDM3A 16831 stands at journeys end, Ahmedabad. |
We were now free to explore the station and work out what
we were going to do with the day!
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| Luggage from the 'Somnath Express' |
Having failed to have an ALCO at Vereval I was keen to
get one in the book today, and from my information identified that the 07:45 departure
to Vereval should have worked as a nice out and back ALCO move to Viramgam Jn,
some 40 minutes outside Ahmedebad. Of course, for the first time in Gujerat the
train turned up with a GM vice! Without another plan, and still hoping for an ALCO
back we boarded WDP4B 40062 anyway, and I must say I quite enjoyed
the run!
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| Passing GM WDP-4D at speed. |
Fortunately the return train was the booked ALCO, WDM3D
11128 taking us back to Sabarmati where we disembarked since we had no better
plan. Here I was very pleased to see a pair of WAG-5 loco’s parked up on a freight,
aware that this class is now in the final stage of its career and very much
something that was on my ‘nice to have’ list for this trip. Having found a spot
to watch both these trains leave we were eventually moved on by a group of
track workers. Even without our big bags we were pretty hot by this point- and
hungry having not really had a breakfast so we found an auto to take us to an
AC Restaurant! From the auto we spotted one of Indian Railway’s new EMU’s- the
railways here could look very different in just a few years’ time with hundreds
of these new units on order.
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| Alco departure form Sabarmati with WDM3A 11128 working into Ahmedabad. |
After lunch we took an auto back to Sabarmati, if
for no other reason than to try to arrange reservations for the last two long
distance trains we had not booked for this trip (we had already realised by
this point that these journeys would be much more comfortable in AC!).
Following our disaster of booking trains at Rajkot there was an expectation
that this might not be easy. The taxi dropped us at the ‘other’ Sabarmati
station, which just so happened to have a separate booking office.
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| WAG-5's 23865 and classmate 23929 are paused at Sabarmati with a freight. |
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| WDS6 36074 is parked outside Sabarmati Depot. |
The process seems over-complicated. You queue to
get a paper form, on which you then fill in a huge amount of personal details
as well as those of the journey you want to book, and in which class. You then
join an even bigger queue to a window that shortly closes for lunch and hope
that your form is correct before presenting it to the reservation clerk who
will then input all of your details onto the Indian Railways computer system,
and maybe, just maybe, sell you some tickets!
Fortunately the guy behind us in the queue read through our forms, and aside
from the minor issues of not having an Indian phone number and one of the train
numbers being wrong, we did miraculously get our tickets! Thankfully all of our
sleepers had been booked from the UK, which I understand from Rob who booked
them, was also not easy!
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| WDPD4 40198 crosses the Sabarmati bridge with a train heading to Ahmedabad. |
There was not an awful lot of activity at our spot in the afternoon, so it was an auto again to take us to the Sabarmati river bridge which I had identified from the earlier train as a decent looking spot to watch the afternoon trains. I was right. This location was busy with all manor of trains, freight and passenger. The highlight being two double-headed ALCO passengers heading into Ahmedebad.
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| WAG-9 31746 crosses the Sabarmatti river in Ahmedabad with a train of car transporters. |
Trains pretty much done for the day we took a rather long auto-rickshaw ride to Mc Donalds! The ill member of our party hadn’t really eaten much and if I’m honest I was quite in the mood for a non-curry while we were somewhere we could get it! The food was ok though there were plenty of items on the menu that weren’t actually available!
Back at the station we picked up our bags and went to find our next overnight train 19309 to Indore. The locomotive was WAP4E 22831 which I didn’t photograph. It was hot, I was tired and I think the day in Ahmedebad had just about broken me… This was supposed to be the cooler time of year to visit. Why had nobody told the weather!?
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| The 'Somnath Express' crosses the Sabarmati bridge headed to Ahmedabad with WDM3A's 14097 and 16837. |
Moves:
-WDP4B 40062
11088 Ahmedabad Jn - Viramgam Jn
-WDM3D 11128
22960 Viramgam Jn - Sabarmati Jn
-WAP4E 22831 19309 Ahmedabad Jn - Indore Jn
Saturday 5th November
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| YDMR 6735 has attached to the Omkareshwar Road - Dr Ambedkar Nagar train at Kalakund to bank it through the Ghats up to Patel Pani. |
Arrival at Indore was again ahead of schedule which was
good as we were on a tight time budget this morning. The two days we were to
spend on the meter gauge railway from Dr. Ambedkar Nagar (formerly Mhow) to
Omkareshwar Road were the most heavily planned of the trip. We had picked this
as our second meter gauge line to visit both due to the scenery and gradients
as well as the quantity of trains, which at the time we believed was three in
each direction. As the trip loomed closer better information came to light and
eventually we confirmed that in fact, in 2022 only one train runs in each
direction over the remaining length of the line each day, together with a
heritage ‘toy’ train on the most scenic section. To make matters worse of the one
‘proper’ train we had in each direction ran northbound in the morning, leaving
Omkareshwar Road at 09:25, while the evening return train would set off from Dr.
Ambedkar Nagar at 17:45, covering almost the entire line in darkness!
A few days before the trip I also finally received confirmation from the hotel that I had booked that they did NOT accept foreigners!
This wasn’t a position of strength, and meant that if we
did not make the northbound train on our first morning we would effectively be
wasting the whole day. Fortunately I was able to re-book accommodation, staying
at the REWA resort near Omkareshwar Road which I had found on Google Maps (and
had also been suggested on forums) which was arranged through WhatsApp.
The next issue was how to meet the train- fortunately my contact at the REWA resort was helpful and arranged a taxi to meet us at Indore which should get us to the resort in time to drop our bags, and get to the station for the departure of the train. Fortunately, after a few initial issues locating the taxi and a rather entertaining journey on the Indian roads we did arrive at our accommodation in good time.
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| Semaphores mark the departure from Omkareshwar Road. |
Omkareswar Road is now the terminus of the railway down from Dr. Ambedkar Nagar which originally formed an important part of the huge network of meter gauge lines across India, this section connecting the northern and southern networks of the country. Since the 1990’s however ‘Project Unigauge’, aiming to convert all of India’s meter gauge network to their standard broad gauge has eroded the network terminally. Now this short section with its daily train in each direction is all that is left of this strategic line. (There is a lot more information about this line at https://indianmetregauge.org/).
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| YDM4 6607 pauses at Barwaha. |
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| YDM4 6726 descends the Ghats with the tourist train to Kalakund. |
We jumped on the heritage train which moved a few hundred meters before making its first tourist stop at the Patal Pani waterfall. We had about an hour here to spot the monkeys, climb on the loco to take photos, consume weird drinks and ice creams and of course photograph the waterfall. Back on the train the next stop was one of the tall viaducts near a tunnel- one of the most spectacular sections of the line. Here there was time to photograph the view, the viaduct, and to walk across it. The viaduct still displays the makers stamp on its steelwork ‘Dalzell’ – there is plenty of evidence of the British history of these lines.
 |
| The heritage train is banked back up to Patel Pani by YDM4 6635. |
We left the train here as we wanted to photograph its return in a few hours time, and having discounted our original plan to walk back from Kalakund (it would have been too far in the heat). This gave us a long pause, but there was at least shade and it was a peaceful spot to read a book or have a nap – that was until an Indian couple turned up one of whom insisted on shouting a conversation to somebody down in the valley below!
We had a chance to watch the banking loco 6735 return downhill for the heritage train, and then eventually in the last light of the day were able to photograph the heritage train slogging up the bank- a fantastic sight and sound, even if we would have preferred the brown coaches of a ‘proper’ train!
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| YDM4 6726 leading with 6635 pushing ascends the ghats in the last of the days light. |
Now it was just a case of getting back home on the
evening train from Dr. Ambedkar Nagar. As neither the return of the tourist
train, or the passenger stopped at the viaduct halt it was a walk back up the
line to Patalpani. We could do with refreshment, and thankfully the stalls at
the waterfall were still open so we passed a pleasant time here before walking
on to the station itself.
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| YDM4 6607 works light engine back from Patel Pani to Kalakund ready to bank the heritage train. |
Here we got chatting to the station staff after suggesting that we would like to see their block equipment. The staff couldn’t be more helpful and explained how everything worked on their ‘heritage’ line. When train 09147 the 17:45 Dr. Ambedkar Nagar – Omkareshwar Road finally pulled in it was getting dark and our friends from the station chatted to the driver while exchanging the token. When the staff and my friends were still lingering and chatting at departure time it became clear from my spot at the front passenger door that I should make a move to join them. The following two hours spent with the three crew in the locomotive heading down the Ghats and all the way back to Omkareshwar Road were most enjoyable! The crew answered many of our questions about the railway and we got to see first hand how the locomotive was driven (and how these machines like to shoot flames out of the exhaust!).
 |
| The station masters office at Patal Pani, complete with block machines. |
After some night shots we watched the locomotive shunt and walked back to the resort, the headtorch I had packed finally coming in handy. A nice meal (with ever too attentive staff and no beer despite having left Gujarat) was enjoyed before we retired to bed after what had been a most enjoyable day.
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| YDM4 6607 back at Omkareshwar Road at the end of its days duties. |
Moves:
-YDM4 6607 09173 Omkareshwar Rd -
Patel Pani
-YDM4 6735 banking 09173 Kalakund -
Patel Pani
-YDM4 6726 52965 Patel Pani - Patel
Pani Viaduct Viewpoint
-YDM4 6607 09147 Patel Pani -
Omkareshwar Road (in cab)
Sunday 6th November
 |
| YDM4 6607 crosses the mighty Narmada river working 01973 from Omkareshwar Road to Dr Amdedkar Nagar. |
Since it is only really possible to take one decent daylight photograph per day of the non-tourist passenger operation on this line there were going to be some tough decisions on what to do today, plus some road transport involved to get us back to Indore for our next overnight train.
 |
| 6635 light engine back to Kalakund. |
We had booked a taxi through the resort again the previous night. A group decision had concluded that since we had at least taken a nice shot in the Ghats yesterday, we should focus on getting the other famous shot on this line, that of the railway crossing the huge bridge over the Narmada River. This was very easy to achieve, being just a few minutes from Omkareshwar Road, and having established our friendly crew from the night before were once again working the train we were also fortunately able to ensure there was some smoke where we wanted it!
Having achieved a very nice shot, it was time to get in
the taxi to see if we could chase the train anywhere. On Saturday we had made
very good time from Indore, but today even by the time we had passed the next
town of Balwar it was abundantly apparent that we were not going to catch the
passenger for a second shot, or to jump on board at Choral. When we left the
main road to head to Kalakund this became even clearer, since the road turned
more or less into a dirt track. I had read that this station did not have road
access, and while we clearly proved it did, I suspect that our taxi driver wished
that he had not agreed to the job! We decided to head to the viaducts north of
Kalakund for a shot of the inbound heritage train, but the taxi gave up before
we got quite this far leaving us to walk the rest of the way. We also started
to come across a new threat that we had been yet to see in this trip- cloud!
 |
| A busy scene at Patal Pani as the YDM4 6635 has arrived after banking the passenger train and 6726 is ready to depart now the locals have climbed off the loco with the heritage train to Kalakund. |
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| YDM4 6626 paues as the Patal Pani waterfall. |
Sunny shots of the train achieved we walked back to Kalakund to pick up some snacks and board the heritage train back to Dr. Ambedkar Nagar. Unlike their colleagues at Palal Pani the station staff at Kalakund were not very helpful at all. I tried to buy tickets for the heritage train only to be told that I couldn’t. There wasn’t much option but to get on anyway, so we did! The vibe on the train was quite different to that we had experienced on the ‘normal’ train with groups playing music and filming the trains progress up the ghats. I ended up sharing my door with a young lady who was enjoying the train for the first time with her family. She was a photographer from Indore who wanted to make a ‘time lapse’ of the journey. I was kindly offered some of her families Lemonade, which I didn’t have much choice to accept despite my efforts so far to avoid drinking anything but bottled water. Fortunately it didn’t have any ill affects on me, but it was disgusting and incredibly sour! I hope she didn’t spot me ‘subtly’ dropping some of it onto the track! On the subject of things dropped onto the track- this train unfortunately highlighted once again the huge problem of litter. There is rubbish everywhere and even this higher class of passenger seemed to have no concept of using bins. As the train progressed there seemed to be a constant stream of cups, cans and crips packets being discharged from the windows to the world outside. The ‘Clean India, Green India’ campaign displayed at many stations clearly has a long way to go.
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| YDM4 6726 is ready to lead the heritage train back from Kalakund to Dr Ambedkar Nagar. |
After some excellent thrash from YDM4 6726 we arrived into Dr. Ambedkar Nagar and bid farewell to Indian meter gauge. The network used to extend on from here to Indore and beyond, but gauge conversion means the network now finishes here. After making the acquaintance of some of the most annoying people wanting our attention that we had thus far met, we made our way to the DMU which would convey us on to Indore over the newly electrified broad gauge line.
 |
| Inside the DMU to Indore. |
We didn’t have a lot of time to connect at Indore, and it was a good thing we didn’t muck around as our train left from platform 6, which was effectively an annex station about a mile from the main station alongside the carriage sidings! It was hot, our bags were heavy and the never ending covered walkway was most unwelcome- had we realised its length I think we would genuinely have got a taxi!
Eventually we came across our train, powered by WAP-7 30627 that would take us through the night to Agra.
 |
| WAP-7 30627 waits for its overnight departure from Indore. |
Moves:
-YDM4 6726 (+6735 banking) 52966
Kalakund - Dr. Ambedkar Nagar
-DMU Dr. Ambedkar Nagar –
Indore Junction
-WAP7 30627 14317 Indore Jn - Agra
Cantt
Monday 7th November
Today was largely a break from the trains. I had not wanted to come to India without seeing the Taj Mahal, and since our nominal base in Delhi was so close it would have seemed rude not to.
We quickly ignored all the protocols and after putting
our bags into the cloakroom took the first auto driver to approach us at the
station. This turned out to be a really good move- he spoke excellent English
and quoted the price I had read online for the journey and seemed to have all
the right answers to our questions about the day. We eventually settled on a
deal to hire the driver for the morning for 750 rupees, he would make sure we
visited the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort (which we weren’t even expecting to have time
to do), get us to a restaurant for lunch and ensure we were back for our train.
He was to his word and for a sum of around £2.50 each we had an excellent day and guide. The Taj Mahal was everything you expect it to be- an amazing and huge marble mausoleum (and thankfully not too busy to prevent us getting the photos every tourist wants). Agra Fort was equally impressive to visit and the lunch restaurant was also very nice- and our first opportunity to try a meat dish since we had visited McDonald’s back in Ahmedabad!
 |
| WAP-7 30258 arrives past bales of luggage at Agra Cantt. |
Back at Agra Cantt railway station things however didn’t look so good- the information screen was suggesting that our train on to Delhi was some 2 hours late, and we couldn’t understand our reservations for the train either. Deciding to make the best of the situation and stick it out at the end of a platform we caught a number of freight trains before I went to investigate further the delay to our train and try to get some help with where our seats were on it. Of course the first person I find at the station entrance was our helpful auto driver! He confirms that the train is indeed late, and after a quick look at our ticket quickly diagnoses the problem. These aren’t seat reservations but our place on the waiting list (Thanks to the booking clerk at Ahmedebad for telling us this)! Fortunately with positions RLW 2, 3 and 4 in the waiting list our chance of securing seats was high, and after a 30 minute wait a the reservation office I came out with our allocated seats in AC2. The actual conversation with the reservation clerk took all of 10 seconds, but the queue moved slowly and of course had its measure of pushing Indians. Our driver took a stand and told one of them to get to the back, but after a bit of reasoning then accepted that his case was worth him pushing in! A couple of Brazilian tourists with their guide were also studying the bureaucracy of trying to book a ticket- today provided our first sighting of anyone not Indian since we touched down at Delhi!
 |
| WAG9BC 32654 approaches Agra Cantt with a coal train. |
As things turned out, the delay probably worked in our favour. We spent a few extra hours photographing the trains in daylight at Agra and then arrived into Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin station in darkness. This station is one of several that appear to act as an ‘annexe’ to the main two stations, Delhi Junction (Old Delhi) and New Delhi. Unfortunately it isn’t massively well connected, especially when you need to reach another ‘annexe’ station, Sarai Rohilla for your onward connection.
Leaving the station we found complete chaos and quickly our plan to take a taxi fell apart. We settled on the metro as we had plenty of time and felt a bit safer with that as a sensible mode of transport. This was a good call as the Delhi metro is modern, clean, efficient and most of all air conditioned! The downside was that it was still a short walk from the nearest metro station to Sarai Rohilla. I don’t know whether we went the best way, but the walk involved dimly lit busy streets, a lot of squaller and of course plenty of cows wandering the roads. We were pleased to arrive at the station and hear the whining of the GM’s which were sitting there.
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| WAG7M pair 21943 and 21944 pause with another freight train at Agra Cantt. |
Information at the station was noticeably poor, and since we were travelling AC1 tonight (the highest class, with doored compartments) we would have to confirm our berths. These are assigned a few hours before departure and were until recently pasted on the coaches of the train. Now there should be a list at the station but we could not find it. A quick trip to the reservation office however sorted the situation.
We were sharing our compartment with a well educated young man who was visiting family near in the military near the Pakistani border. He was able to give us an insight into some of the food we were trying and even settle a small petty cash dispute which one of my friends had with a platform vendor. I managed to nab one of the last fried sandwiches on offer from one of the vendors and I must say it was one of the best things I had so far eaten! As the train travelled on towards our destination of Sri Ganganigar behind our pair of WDG4D GM’s 70872 and 70573 we settled down to probably the most comfortable night we had yet had on board an Indian train.
 |
| WDP4 20086 waits its departure from Delhi Sarai Rohilla. |
Moves:
-WAP7 37517 12807 Agra Cantt - Delhi
Hazrat Nizamuddin
-WDG4D 70872+70573 12455 Delhi Sarai
Rohilla - Sri Ganganagar
Tuesday 8th November
 |
| WDG4 12755 catches the best (only) light of the day at Panjkosi while working from Sri Ganganagar to Bathinda. The GM was an unwelcome guest on what we thought was an Alco turn. |
It was a bit of a shock to wake not to the rising sun, but to cloudy skies. Especially since my weather forecasting app was predicting sunny weather. We had possibly chosen a bad time to be in the Punjab- this time of year farmers burn off their crop stubble across this part of India and neighbouring Pakistan. The result is a smoke screen which covers thousands of miles for a couple of weeks each year.
 |
| WDP43 40474 waits at Sri Ganganigar. |
Sri Ganganigar was our destination not because we particularly wanted to visit it, but because it would give us a few more hours sleeping on the train rather than getting up around 04:00 at Bathinda, where we would be staying the night. This line was also a good bet for Alco haulage and was yet to be fully wired, though even since my pre-trip research progress was being made. Several platforms contained piles of OHLE stanchions and several had been loosely erected each side of the station even if features such as the footbridge had not yet been re-modelled.
 |
| An Alco departure from Sri Ganganigar with WDG3A's 14803 and 14848. |
Our first couple of trains disappointedly produced GM’s vice Alco, and with not a lot else going on we elected to take an auto out to a spot we had found on Google Maps to photograph the next inbound Alco service before our own train to Bathinda. This caused quite some confusion amongst the drivers- after all why did three young English men want to take a taxi to a level crossing in the middle of nowhere? Eventually one driver agreed to take us, assuming we wanted to visit the nearby temple. The spot was reasonable enough, and the train did indeed appear with a pair of Alco’s, but the weather did not improve despite showing promising signs at Sri Ganganigar earlier.
 |
| WDG3A 14801 and 14825 depart from Mohan Pura bound for Sri Ganganigar. |
Being right next to the small station at Mohan Pura we then waited here for our train to Bathinda- hoping it would be the pair of Alco’s we had just seen returning, we were a little disappointed when WDG4 12755 turned up, and a good 10 minutes before we were expecting it as well. We weren’t 100% sure it was our train, but had no desire to wait at this tiny shack in case it wasn’t!
 |
| WDG3A 13281 and 13288 in the smog at Bathinda. |
Again our presence attracted a lot of attention on the train, and despite the weather briefly seeming a bit brighter by the time we arrived at Bathinda the smog was clearly set in for the day and blocking out any chance of some sunlight. The heat wasn’t quite so oppressive today, but even so we were keen to get rid of our bags so after a few pictures at the station we made our way to our final hotel of the trip, the Hotel Sepal which was also by far the most upmarket- though the illusion was let down slightly by the fact that you had to walk through a building site every time you needed to access the lobby since the place was having a new front built! After two nights on trains, and without a lot to inspire us in the smog there was time to freshen up before heading back to the station later in the afternoon. With no useful daylight we planned a few night shots before heading back to the hotel for a beer (Yes! The first one since Delhi Airport!) and dinner at the hotel. We weren’t quite the only ones in the whole place, but the buffet that we didn’t eat did seem a little on the wasteful side for the handful of guests enjoying it. While the most expensive, the meal was certainly one of the best we had eaten, and we felt pretty confident in the meat here too. Back to the bar for a few more beers before calling it a night as I for one was very tired!
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| WAP4 22721 stands at Bathinda. |
Moves:
-WDG4 12755 54754 Mohan Pura - Bathinda Jn
Wednesday 9th November
 |
| WDG3A 14708R in its attractive green livery shunts onto a freight with a classmate at Bathinda. |
The hotel breakfast was pleasant despite the rather odd
seating arrangement with everyone sitting around the outside of the room facing
in- I was waiting for some sort of performance to begin but it never happened!
 |
| WAP-7 37194 shunts at Bathinda. |
Without much of a plan, and feeling like I had not really ridden many Alco’s I studied the spreadsheets and found a nice out and back move to Kot Kapura Junction which would fill in part of the morning. We elected to leave our bags at the station just to avoid any hassle later when we really did need to be on our train to Delhi. For the first time since Rajkot on day 1 this was a hassle, requiring the usual ID but also once again our onward tickets and a lot of paperwork!
With the bags deposited it was just a question of finding
our train… This was not easy as since heading north of Delhi the provision of
information had very much diminished. To make matters worse even the trains
themselves mostly carried their destination boards in only Hindi and,
presumably, Punjabi – even most of the train numbers were in the local
numerals. We had to resort to asking passengers whether the trains with Alco’s
pointing the right direction were the Firozpur train. Apparently they weren’t,
but when a pair left in the right direction bang on the time we were expecting
I can’t help thinking that actually it was and we should have jumped on it as
it passed us!
Resolved to get my Alco ride it was decided simply to
jump on the next train in the right direction with the correct power. We didn’t
have to wait too long until a train did arrive clearly bound for Firozpur,
though my App’s reckoning it was running at least 8 hours late. We jumped on
and enjoyed a ‘fast’ run behind the pair of Ludhiana WDM3’sA’s 16320 and 16302.
 |
| WDM3's depart from Kotkapura Junction. |
At Kot Kapura Junction we were quickly advised not to
take photos by the RPF, so having ascertained from the booking clerk that the
next train back to Bathinda was some 90 minutes away I headed into town for a
bit of an explore. I wasn’t bothered too much and the experience was very enjoyable,
I even came back with a ‘Burberry’ shirt for the princely sum of around 700
rupees (around £7!). The wait at Kot Kapura wasn’t unpleasant- it was warm
again, the sun having broken through the smoke today, but tolerable with our bags
stashed away. Only a little after it was due our final diesel hauled train
arrived behind WDM3A’s 16371 and 16611 with a slightly slower, but again enjoyable
Alco ride to effectively finish off the trip.
 |
| An Indian DMU at Kotkapura Junction. |
We still had a few hours in Bathinda before our train
home which were spent on the station photographing the diesels and enjoying our
new favourite station delicacy of fried sandwiches. Slightly concerned by failing
to find our train earlier, we made sure we had plenty of time to locate train 20410
to Delhi Junction since missing this would have terrible consequences on our flight
home (and we were all pretty keen to get home by this point). We needn’t have
worried. The stock was already in the station with WAP7 39173 coupled to the
front. The A/C wasn’t on yet so it was far more pleasant to stay on the
platform until just before departure.
This train was fairly pleasant, again in AC2 and everyone
had a chance to catch up on a bit of reading or have a doze before we got into
Delhi getting on for an hour late after an absolute stagger through the suburbs!
By the time we arrived there was no desire to explore the station any further as
we simply wanted to get out of the heat and to the airport. Outside Delhi
station a local had the courtesy to vomit over the road in front of us to
remind us just why it really was now time to leave this place!
 |
| Smoke rises from WDG3 14745 as it depats from Bathinda. |
 |
| WAP-7 39173 waits to work form Bathinda to Delhi. |
The airport food was disappointing, the flight home
uneventful (without masks this time) and of course the public transport to get
me home from Heathrow was delayed- but we were home. India had certainly been an
adventure not to forget, and which would probably not be repeated. Pretty much
all of our objectives had been achieved, and without any real disasters! No
missed connections, no hotels which couldn’t take us, no lost luggage and (personally
at least) I had managed to avoid the Delhi Belly!
India’s railways had been a delight, especially the meter
gauge and the YDM4’s which had exceeded all expectations. The broad gauge Alco’s
seem to be almost equally endangered now with all of the routes we travelled
either under the wires, newly electrified or under electrification.
If you want to see the ‘old’ railways of India, truth be told, like us you should have gone a few years ago. But that isn’t an option anymore, and right now there is, still, just about enough to enjoy.
 |
| WDG3A's 14745 and 16371 wait their respective departures from Bathinda. |
Moves:
-WDM3A 16320+16302 12137 Bathinda Jn
- Kot Kapura Jn
-WDM3A 16371+16611 01612 Kot Kapura Jn
- Bathinda Jn-WAP7 39173 20410 Bathinda Jn - Old Delhi.
 |
| The stabling point at the north of Bathinda features a line of Alco's headed by WDG3A 14726R alongside GM WDG4's 12755 and 40027. |
A most excellent read.
ReplyDeleteSuperb!
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